


Red

by chiako_kun



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, literally there is just hugging, lots of characters are mentioned but don't appear, this is pretty gen-fic you have been warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:19:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2797664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiako_kun/pseuds/chiako_kun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate AU</p>
<p>Vaguely future-fic, set in a universe where everyone is connected to their soulmates via a red string tied to both of their fingers. It's usual to gain the ability to see one's thread around one's sixteenth birthday, although seeing the thread is no guarantee of being able to see your soulmate right away. </p>
<p>Or: Hinata and Kageyama are soulmates, but it takes a lot of time and a little awkwardness for both of them to figure that out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is mostly just a schmoopy excuse to start a soulmate universe using my favorite "red string of destiny" trope. 
> 
> Fic is split into two parts, the first from Hinata's POV and the second from Kageyama's.
> 
> Please enjoy!

 

**Red--a Kagehina soulmate story**

 

~Hinata side~

 

“So, my birthday is coming up next week.” Hinata leaned forward towards Kageyama who was standing in front of him in line, speaking louder than necessary even to be heard over the sound of volleyballs pounding on the floor of the gym.

 

“And?” Kageyama glanced back over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised.

 

Hinata leaned in to say something else but before he could say anything the coach yelled “Next!” and Kageyama was running away to spike the ball.

 

“Anyway,” Hinata continued when they were both back at the end of the line. “It means I’m going to find out who my soulmate is soon!”

 

Kageyama looked over his shoulder again, managing to exude an aura of being totally unimpressed. “If this is you trying to make fun of me for being younger than you again, it’s not going to work.”

 

“Wha--that’s not it at all! I’m just excited because it means we’re all going to start figuring it out soon!”

 

Hinata whipped around when he heard Tsukishima snort from the other line. “What? There’s nothing wrong with being excited!”

 

Tsukishima reached up to adjust his goggles. “Statistically speaking it’s unlikely for you to gain the ability to see your thread on the actual date of your birthday.”

 

“So?” Hinata threw his arms out to the side. “I know that. But I can _feel_ it. I’m going to learn who my soul mate is on my birthday, my gut says so.”

 

“It’s probably an upset stomach because you drank too much water too quickly.”

 

“Ha ha. I’m not going to throw up, I’m over that!”

 

Kageyama glanced back at Hinata, smirking. “Remember our first match of the year? Remember the bus trip? Remember who was willing to sit next to you that time around?”

 

“Wha--that’s not playing fair Kageyama!”   
  
“Hinata! Kageyama! Get your mind on the game, you can gossip later!”   
  


“Yes Coach!” Kageyama ran to hit the ball and Hinata bent forward, prepared to follow him a moment later.

 

*

 

“Hinata, you’re turning sixteen soon, right?”

 

Hinata glanced up at the classmate who was leaning on the side of his desk, grinning down at him.  

 

He wiped a hand over his mouth quickly and lowered the bread he had been eating. “Yeah! It’s coming up on Sunday, I can’t wait!”

 

“I bet. I’m a little jealous, you’re going to be one of the first people in our class to find their soulmate. Got any ideas where your thread might go?”

 

Hinata laughed shortly and flicked his eyes towards the classroom window.

 

“I mean--does anyone ever really know? But I guess if I had to choose I’d want someone cute, and who could cook and it’d be nice if they were shorter than me. If I had to pick a person though...maybe someone like Yachi-chan, our team manager?”

 

Hinata jumped when someone started violently coughing, and he turned to see Kageyama curled forward in his seat while he pounded on his chest. Rice was sprayed in an arc across the desk in front of him, and the girl who sat in the seat in front of had turned around to glare at him as she tried to brush off the back of her shirt.

 

“Hey Kageyama!” Even though he was just a row away, Hinata stood up and waved at him. “You should take smaller bites!”

 

Kageyama sat up, his face bright red as he turned towards Hinata and flipped him off. He turned his glare around the room and picked up his milk again to take a long swallow as he slowly moved his eyes back down to his lunch.

 

“So anyway Hinata…”

 

Hinata pulled his eyes slowly away from Kageyama and back to his classmate, smiling again and answering the next question that he asked.

 

*

  
“So, Yachi-san, huh?”

 

“Shut up Tsukishima!” Hinata served the ball into the wall extra hard, but was unable to keep the blush from his cheeks.

 

“Did you realize how ridiculous that would be after you said it? You two aren’t suited for each other at all.”

 

Hinata picked up the ball as it rolled back to his feet and served it again. “I just said something to get him off my back about it.”

 

“So you do have someone in mind but it’s not Yachi?”

 

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

 

“Funny, two days ago you wouldn’t shut up--”

 

The ball Tsukishima was holding flew out of his hands as another collided with it. Tsukishima leaned back to look around Hinata and whistled. “What’s got you so annoyed?”

 

“Some of us are trying to practice and don’t want to listen to you talk incessantly.”

 

“Oooh, big words coming from you, did you steal your mother’s dictionary?”

 

“What!”

 

“Tsukishima, Kageyama, that’s enough!” Ennoshita called from the other side of the gym. “There’s plenty of time to chat after practice is over.”

 

“Like I’d want to talk with that beanpole,” Kageyama muttered, jogging past Hinata and Tsukishima to collect his ball.

 

Tsukishima sneered at him as he crossed in front of them again and turned to Hinata again. “So as I was saying--”

 

“It’d be nice if it was Yachi but I’m not actually sure what I want and I just want to know who it is, okay?” Hinata’s cheeks were a dark red and he was gripping the ball he was holding harder than necessary. He made no move to serve it.

 

Tsukishima tossed his ball into the air and served, watching as it smacked into the wall and bounced back to him. “Hn. So you really are just like the rest of us.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I thought you were one of those crackpots who believed you could tell who your soulmate was ahead of time. But you’re not and that’s...okay. Good.”

 

Hinata glanced to the side at Tsukishima, smiling slightly. “You’re not such a bad guy sometimes, you know that?”

 

“Don’t ever let anyone know.”

 

*

 

Hinata sat up in bed and slapped his alarm clock the second it went off, blinked a few times, then looked down at his hand.

 

A red thread stretched away from the ring finger, pulled tight in a way the internet said meant his soulmate was close enough that he could find them right away. Hinata jumped up and stumbled out of bed, tripping out of his pajamas and pulling on whatever daytime clothing was closest. He grabbed his phone off his desk and was out the door, yelling hello to his mother as he passed the kitchen and pausing just long enough to add that he would let her know if he wouldn’t be home in time for breakfast.

 

The knowing smile on her face as she shooed him out the door said everything he needed to hear as he continued on his way.

 

When he got outside of the gate to his house he paused and took a deep breath and held his hand out in front of him. He grinned as he stared at the thread that was running through the air into the distance, then swung onto his bike and started pedalling hard with his hand still outstretched.

 

He was barely aware of the scenery as he rode, eyes focused solely on his hand as the thread started to get brighter and brighter with every passing minute. He rode past the school and farther still, paying attention to the scenery for the first time as he coasted into a residential neighborhood. He slowed, waving to an older woman who was watering her flowers as he dismounted from his bike and started walking, hand still in front of him.

 

He left the bike against the front of a house a few farther down the street, where a man with kind eyes smiled knowingly at him over the top of the newspaper was was reading.

 

Hinata pulled out his phone as the thread brightened, almost glowing with how strong the connection was. He didn’t pay attention to his contact list as he scrolled through, going in autopilot as his eyes were focused entirely on his hand and the path he was following.

 

“Hu--Hinata! Idiot! Do you know what time it is?” Kageyama hissed over the line after the phone rang a few times. “Why the hell are you calling me this early?”

 

Hinata swallowed, suddenly nervous as he turned a corner. “I--uh--sorry. I just...I woke up and my thread was there and I’m so close to finding my soulmate, Kageyama. I should be excited but I’m nervous and I don’t know if I want to take the last few steps alone.”

 

“Hah?” Hinata heard rustling. “...fine. Whatever. I’ll stay on, but only until you find their house.”

 

“It won’t take too long, the way the thread looks I’m almost….there!”

 

Hinata stopped outside a clean white house and stared up at the second floor window that the thread was connected it. He turned to look at the nameplate on the outside of the house.

 

And dropped his phone.

 

Hinata’s mouth hung open and he could hear Kageyama’s tinny voice through the phone’s speaker from where it lay on the ground.

 

He slowly let his hand fall to his side as he knelt to take the phone.   
  
“Hinata? Hinata! Hey!” Hinata heard Kageyama growl and through the window he saw something move and then he could see somebody’s back pressed against the glass through a curtain. “Dumbass, say something!”

 

“Kageyama, I have to go.” Hinata heard Kageyama start to say something in protest and he hung up before he heard any of it. He looked back up at the window, saw the vague shape of a human run a hand over their head, and then he looked back down at his hand, red thread still pulling strongly toward the figure in the window.

  
“Huh.” 


	2. Chapter 2

~Kageyama side~

 

Kageyama stormed into the classroom that same morning, not even pausing when he dropped his bag on his desk and continued over to Hinata’s usual seat.

 

He got out the words, “Hinata, what the hell was this morning--” before he realized that Hinata wasn’t actually sitting in the seat.

 

The girl who sat behind Hinata blinked at him as he flapped his mouth open and shut a few times before turning and stomping back to his desk, where he threw himself into his seat and crossed his arms.

 

His classmates, somewhat used to Kageyama shifting easily between yelling at Hinata and grumpily brooding at his desk, easily ignored the outburst and went about their mornings as usual.

 

*

 

Hinata showed up halfway through their first period the next day, mumbled something to the teacher as an excuse, and then shuffled to his desk where he proceeded to obviously not keep up with the lessons for the rest of the morning.

 

The minute the lunch bell rang his classmates gathered in a crowd around his desk, all asking questions to try and get an answer about why he had been absent the day before. Kageyama shoved his way through the small crowd until he was standing beside Hinata’s desk, where he crossed his arms and glared down at the redhead. The classmates around them slowly fell silent as Hinata didn’t respond to anyone and Kageyama continued glaring.

 

“What the hell, Hinata.”

 

Hinata sighed and looked up at him, and for the first time Kageyama could see the shadows under his eyes which meant he obviously hadn’t slept well the night before.

 

“Hey Kageyama, can we go someplace else?”

 

Kageyama shrugged slowly, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to his sides. “I guess.”

 

Hinata pushed to his feet, stepping away from his desk and walking through the crowd of other students that parted carefully to let him through. Kageyama followed easily, pausing at the door of the classroom to turn around and level a glare at the group of students who were clearly preparing to follow them and eavesdrop on the conversation.

 

They ended up by the water spigots the usually used to rinse off after practice. Hinata, who had been wandering almost aimlessly while looking for a place not already occupied by other students, stopped and turned around to face Kageyama.

 

“Want to tell me what that call yesterday morning was about?” Kageyama glared at Hinata’s back as he waited for an answer.

 

Hinata continued to face away from Kageyama, but he reached up to run a hand through his hair as he shifted his weight from foot to food. “Um...I found my soul mate?”

 

Kageyama snorted. “Yeah, I got that dumbass.”

 

Hinata dropped the hand back to his side. “So they’re younger than me. I can’t really say much other than that.”

 

“What do you mean, they’re younger--is it someone you know?”

 

Hinata turned around slowly, nodding slightly at Kageyama as he did. “Yeah. And they’re younger and I can’t say much more than that.”

 

Kageyama struggled with to come up with an elegant way to say that Hinata could chuck the social convention of not talking about younger soulmates out the window and just tell him because that’s what friends _did_ , and the conversation fell to silence between them. To cover his growing agitation at not being told, Kageyama added, “I can’t imagine you with a younger soulmate. I think I feel sorry for that person, whoever it is. Imagine you being the older one in the relationship, really.”

 

Hinata laughed, but something sounded off about it. “Y-yeah, right.”

 

Kageyama opened his mouth to add something else, but snapped it shut instead, opting to shrug and turn around to leave. “That’s all I needed to know. Wanna grab lunch?”

 

“Ah. Sure…” Hinata didn’t sound as excited by the prospect of eating as he normally did, but rather than draw out an already painful conversation Kageyama just shoved his hands into his pockets and kept walking.

 

*

 

The year progressed and nobody came forward to claim Hinata as their soulmate. Kageyama and Hinata’s classmates moved on as more and more of their peers started getting threads as well, and as pairs started forming the people who didn’t have a match that was old enough yet, or who weren’t old enough fell to the wayside of the true soulmate couples in the school.

 

September came and went, leaving Yachi not with a thread connecting her to Hinata, but one that disappeared off into the distance towards the east.

 

Fall slowly moved into winter and once December hit Kageyama spent more time than he was comfortable with fending off the increasingly probing questions from his classmates about who he thought his soulmate would be. The closer things got to his birthday the more time Kageyama spent hiding in the gym during his free hours, practicing his serve and pretending it was Hinata’s head instead of confronting Hinata over the strange looks he kept shooting Kageyama’s way when he thought Kageyama wasn’t looking.

 

It was confusing and frustrating, and Kageyama didn’t think he should have to deal with it when Hinata still wouldn’t give him even the tiniest hint about his own soulmate while occasionally interrogating Kageyama about who he wanted.

 

Kageyama slammed one more serve into the ground, then went to collect the scattered balls before he had to go back to class.

 

*

 

The day before Kageyama’s birthday, Tanaka threw an arm over his shoulders during practice and tugged Kageyama closer. “So you know I’m still waiting for a soulmate who’s somewhere in the school right? Wouldn’t it be funny if it was you?”

 

“NO!”

 

Kageyama jumped and dislodged Tanaka’s arm, spinning around to see Hinata behind them, glaring with more intensity than Kageyama had ever thought it possible for him to contain.

 

“Hinata?” Ennoshita came up beside him and knocked him gently on the head, making Hinata’s expression snap back to a slightly strained version of his usual carefree smile.

 

“Ah. Sorry.” Hinata rubbed at the back of his head and looked down at the ground. “But Tanaka-senpai, didn’t you want uh...a cool girl with b-big b-b-breasts?”

 

Beside Kageyama, Tanaka snorted, then dissolved into laughter and was soon clutching his stomach as he continued to laugh and point in Hinata’s direction. “H-h-how hard did you have to try to say that? Hinata I’m s-so proud of you!”

 

Hinata’s face was bright red as he stared at the ground while Tanaka’s laughter continued to echo across the gym.

 

He heard Ennoshita say, “Let’s get back to practice,” obviously trying to be heard over Tanaka and being only mildly successful.

 

Kageyama took one more look at Hinata’s face and turned and punched Tanaka in the side as hard as he could, cutting the laughter short and turning it to pained wheezing instead. Kageyama then calmly turned and walked away from Tanaka to collect a volleyball. He ignored Tanaka as he called, “Kageyama, how could you do that to your senpai? Kageyama? Kageyama!” after him.

 

*

 

Kageyama’s birthday came and despite the pestering of his classmates, his thread didn’t appear during the day, nor during any of the days before winter break started.

 

*

 

Kageyama rolled over on the morning of January third and slammed a hand onto his alarm clock to shut it off. He burrowed back into his pillow, but tossed it away a moment later to grab his clock instead and bring it closer to his face as if seeing it closer would change the time it was displaying.

 

“Shit!” He had completely forgotten to set his alarm the night before so that he would wake up in time for the morning practice the club had planned to keep themselves in shape during the school break.

 

He was out the door five minutes later with a piece of toast in his mouth and a hastily packed gym bag over his shoulder. He was going to be late no matter what he did, but if he ran to school he might get away with not having to do the laps around the gym as well.

 

He was raising his hand to shove another bite of toast into his mouth when he realized that he had a red thread (finally!) stretching away from his finger and down the sidewalk in front of him. He took off in the direction, toast forgotten on the ground behind him as he followed the thread.

 

He fumbled his phone out of his pocket, pulling up Hinata’s contact information and hitting send. He pressed the phone to his ear as he ran, cursing under his breath as it went to voicemail because Hinata was obviously at morning practice without him and wouldn’t answer his phone.

 

He tried Ennoshita and Tanaka as an afterthought because somebody should probably know he wasn’t going to make it to practice this morning, but nobody answered; he gave up and shoved his phone back into his pocket as he kept running.

 

He felt the first tinges of fear as the school gates came into view and he turned the corner into it. He didn’t slow down even as he realized that the thread was going in the same direction he had originally been headed and disappeared through the gym doors.

 

He had half a second to think to himself _oh god, it really is Tanaka_ as he threw the door open and leaned against the door frame panting while his teammates all stared back at him because of his overly dramatic entrance.

 

He watched the expressions on everyone’s faces turn from shock to understanding as his hand that was still extended in front of him started to shake. He tried following the thread but his eyes wouldn’t focus and his vision kept blurring, so instead he looked up and skimmed over his teammate's faces as they watched him.

 

He froze on Hinata who was watching him with an expression of unadulterated joy that somehow outshone his usually brightness by a thousand times. Kageyama stared back dumbly as Hinata slowly lifted up his own hand and quite proudly showed off the red thread tied around his finger that connected to the one attached to Kageyama’s still shaking hand.

 

Kageyama’s eyes snapped to Hinata’s, and before he had fully comprehended what exactly had just happened, Hinata was running across the gym and launching himself at Kageyama. It was only Kageyama’s well-honed reflexes that allowed him to catch Hinata without falling over as the smaller boy wrapped his arms around him and clung hard.

 

“Hinata…”

 

Hinata’s hands clenched tighter on the back of Kageyama’s shirt. “It took you long enough you big dummy.”

 

Kageyama snorted and pushed Hinata off of himself. “I can’t believe you knew this whole time and _didn’t tell me_.”

 

“I couldn’t--”

 

“Who cares what “the rules” are! Volleyball has rules! This--this--we’re soulmates, there aren’t rules for how that works. What, did you think I wouldn’t believe you?”

 

Hinata’s significant glance down at the floor said enough that even an idiot like Kageyama could understand.

 

“I thought--I thought we knew each other better than that. Dumbass!” Kageyama curled both of his hands into fists and he watched for a moment as Hinata looked up and flinched when he saw Kageyama glaring back at him.   
  
“I’m sorry...I’ll just--”   
  
“Shut up, you dumbass!” Kageyama let his fists go and reached out to grab Hinata and drag him close again.

 

He heard something that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle as Hinata’s arms wrapped around him again. “You said that already.”   
  


“I’m going to keep calling you a dumbass until I die, you dumbass.” Kageyama’s arms tightened around Hinata, and he felt Hinata’s pull against his back in response. “I thought I was going to get Tanaka and you seemed so sure about Yachi, and we could have had six extra _months_ …”

 

Hinata’s hair was tickling the side of his neck as he sniffled again. “Sorry.”

 

Kageyama let go, grabbing Hinata’s shoulders and pushing him away far enough to look into his eyes. “Stop apologizing. You’re a dumbass but you’re muh...my dumbass. So.”

 

Kageyama tore his eyes away and stared hard at a scuff on the gym floor behind Hinata’s shoulder as he felt cheeks heat up.

 

He heard Hinata snort, felt his shoulders begin to shake with quiet laughter. “Hey Kageyama?”

 

Kageyama’s eyes flitted briefly to Hinata’s and then settled on his chin instead.

 

“You’re a giant idiot too, so at least we’ll be a pair of idiots together.”

 

“Hey, pair of idiot soulmates!” Hinata and Kageyama jumped apart as Ennoshita’s voice interrupted their conversation. “I know this is a very important time for both of you, and you can be excused from practice if you’d like, but at least shut the door so the rest of us can get back to it.”

 

“Right!” Hinata darted back across the gym and Kageyama stepped forward out of the doorway and pulled it shut behind him.

 

“Kageyama, come toss for me!” Hinata called across the gym, waving unnecessarily at him as he crossed the floor.

 

When he stopped next to Hinata and let his bag fall to the floor as he looked down as Hinata’s beaming face, he realized they were definitely a pair of idiots and that’s why there couldn’t have been any better outcome for the two of them.

  
~end~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may turn into a series because I have possible sequels planned in my head. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up though, based on how long it took me to finish this fic.


End file.
